Cognitive Development in Infancy and Early Childhood Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key developmental terms and concepts from Lifespan Chapter 3 on cognitive development in infancy and early childhood.

Constructivism

Piaget's theory that children build their own understanding of the world through experience instead of simply absorbing facts from adults.

Schema

A mental category or framework the brain uses to organize knowledge.

Assimilation

Fitting new information into an existing schema that you already have.

Accommodation

Changing an existing schema or creating a new one because new information does not fit.

Adaptation

In Piaget's theory, the overall process of adjusting your thinking as you learn through assimilation and accommodation working together.

Sensorimotor stage

Piaget's stage from birth to about age 2, when infants learn mainly through their senses and physical actions.

Object permanence

Understanding that an object still exists even when it cannot be seen.

Representational thought

The ability to mentally picture or think about people, objects, and events that are not physically present.

Habituation

Paying less attention to something after experiencing it repeatedly.

Dishabituation

The return of attention when something new or different appears after habituation.

Preferential-response methods

Research techniques where infants are shown two or more things to measure which one they look at or respond to more.

Deferred imitation

Copying a behavior after a delay rather than immediately, demonstrating memory or recall.

Perceptual narrowing

The developmental change where babies become better at recognizing frequently experienced faces, speech sounds, and patterns, but less sensitive to unfamiliar distinctions.

Means-end behavior

Using one action as a way to reach a goal.

Preoperational stage

Piaget's stage from about ages 2 to 7, when children use language, symbols, and pretend play, but reasoning is not yet fully logical.

Egocentrism

In Piaget's theory, difficulty understanding that another person may see, know, feel, or think something different.

Centration

Focusing on one obvious feature of a situation while overlooking other important features.

Conservation

Understanding that an amount stays the same even when its appearance or arrangement changes.

Decentration

Considering several relevant features at the same time instead of focusing on only one.

Executive functions

The set of cognitive processes that includes working memory, inhibitory control or self-regulation, and cognitive flexibility.

Working memory

Holding information in mind briefly and using it.

Inhibitory control

Stopping an impulse, ignoring a distraction, or waiting before acting.

Cognitive flexibility

Changing rules, strategies, or perspectives when the situation changes.

Theory of mind

Understanding that other people have their own thoughts, beliefs, desires, emotions, and knowledge, which may differ from yours.

False-belief task

A task commonly used to assess theory of mind by measuring whether a child understands that another person can believe something that is wrong or different from reality.

One-to-one correspondence

An early number concept that involves saying one number for each object counted.

Order irrelevance

An early number concept stating that objects can be counted in any order and the total stays the same.

Cardinality

An early number concept where the last number said tells how many objects there are altogether.

Phonology

The sound system of a language, including its speech sounds and sound patterns.

Semantics

The meanings of words and the vocabulary of a language.

Syntax

The grammar and word-order rules used to build meaningful sentences.

Pragmatics

Using language in socially appropriate ways and adjusting it for the listener or situation.

Fast mapping

Quickly connecting a new word with a likely meaning after very little exposure.

Slow mapping

Gradually making a word's meaning more accurate and complete through repeated experiences with it.

Code mixing

A bilingual communication strategy that uses elements of more than one language within a single utterance.

Code switching

A bilingual communication strategy that shifts from one language to another across situations or parts of a conversation.

Sociocultural approach

Vygotsky's theory that thinking develops through social interaction, culture, and cultural tools such as language.

Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

The range between what a child can do alone and what the child can do with guidance.

Scaffolding

Temporary, tailored support that helps someone complete a task within the zone of proximal development (ZPD), reduced as the learner becomes more capable.

Private speech

Talking to oneself out loud to plan, focus, solve problems, or control behavior, which gradually becomes silent inner speech.

Cultural responsiveness

Understanding a family's practices in context, asking respectful questions, avoiding stereotypes, and working with the family instead of treating cultural differences as deficits.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

A varied neurodevelopmental condition involving differences in social communication plus restricted or repetitive behaviors or interests.

Parentese

A child-directed speaking style that often uses a slower rate, clearer and more expressive intonation, repetition, simpler sentences, and an attention-getting tone.

Recognition

Identifying information as familiar when you encounter it again.

Recall

Retrieving information without the original cue present in front of you.